ARE DOCTORS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS WOOED BY THE DRUG COMPANIES: RECORD EXPENDITURE FROM BIG PHARMA TO GIFT PHYSICIANS

courtesy: worldtruth.tv

If you thought that your medical practitioner was exempt from pressures from pharmaceutical offices you might be wrong. 

That is not to say that all physicians fall into big pharma's tricks, and many do their due diligence by checking pharmaceutical literature before prescribing a new medication.  However even that might not be enough, as was detailed in an earlier article.  In fact some pharmaceutical companies have been observed cherry picking the results of their clinical studies.  But that's another matter.

What is however coming to light now is the very large amount of money big pharma is laying at the doctor's doorstep.  As a matter of fact in just one small state, actually the smallest in the union, the District of Columbia, big pharms spent 84 million dollars marketing pharmaceuticals, and of those 84 million, 19 went directly to gift to physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals.  A study recently published by George Washington University showed that 12 professionals alone had received gifts in eccess of 100,000 dollars.  

Although these gifts are not illegal, the question one must pose is what if any influence do these gifts exhert in the choice of pharmaceutical by one outfit or the other.  It also shows that pharmaceutical companies will focus on the marketing of more lucrative medications rather than other, with little regard as to the relevance of the medication in the overall picture.  

The other issue the study raises is whether the heavily marketed drugs are favored by the doctors, thereby increasing their use, which could be at the detriment of cheaper or even more effective drugs, not to mention used inappropriately.

In fact a prior study conducted by the same scientist at G.W. University highlighted the fact that big pharma was heavily marketing antipsychotic drugs, and that the net effect was a disproportionate increase in the prescription of such drugs in Medicaid patient and children, and of their inappropriate off label use, which occurs when a drug is prescribed for something other than that for which it was developed. These drugs were also associated with severe adverse symptoms and illnesses.

Either way, the new report does highlight the jaw dropping amounts of money pharmaceutical companies are spending on their marketing efforts. In addition, most of the companies studied were employing the bulk of the marketing expenditures, nearly 82%, towards marketing to target doctors, and that is a reason to be concerned.   

Another finding of notice was the fact that, in the District alone, the top ten Disease-Specific organizations were the recipients of cash or checks in gifts from the pharmaceutical companies that topped 2.1 million dollars.  

Source: MNT 3.14.13/ George WAshington University School of Public Health